No fingers packed lunch ideas please

[hippohector]

I’m trying to think of cold packed lunch ideas that can be eaten with a fork or spoon - no fingers.
So far I’ve got pasta, rice and salad... then I get stuck!
Can I have your go to cold packed lunch ideas please?

Why?

Couscous salad is nice, or a sort of caprese salad - I dice onions and tomatoes and douse liberally with balsamic. Sometimes mix in tuna.

Sorry, should’ve mentioned it’s for DC. Sensory issues involving not touching food, plus his autism means he is paranoid about cleanliness.

All the variations on potato, pasta, rice, couscous, bulgur wheat, quinoa, bean salads.
Sushi with chopsticks or a fork.

Frittata cut into cubes to be eaten with a fork
A food flask to keep things like soup warm.
Burrito style wrapped in foil so he can eat it without touching the wrap with his hands.
Cold noodle dishes.

Sesame noodle salad.

Potato salad

Cocktail sausages or cut up sausages with potatoes as salad or cubed roasted (would be less cold and wet if that’s an issue) carrots raw is nice, cut into smallish bits could be speared on a fork, or cold roasted/boiled.
Quiche.

Please not rice unless you can guarantee it will be chilled. It’s a big food poisoning risk.
Will he drink soup out of a thermos?

Cut a sandwich into nine small squares. That's fork food.

Cold boiled potatoes, mixed with a little butter with grated cheese.

Salad with pieces of cold sausage mixed in.

Quiche

Greek yogurt with blueberries & honey

Food flask with hot noodles, soup, stew, curry, porridge, baked beans etc.

If you have a look at some 'bento' suppliers you will find all sorts of tings to use instead of a fork, eg little plastic, er they are animals with a fork bit that you put cherry tomatoes or fruit on to. There are some that are more like blunt cocktail sticks and tiny sauce jars. And silicon 'cups'.

Things like rice balls, meat balls or things like chicken tikka can be 'stuck'.

In a food flask you could do soup and things like baked beans, beans and sausage - maybe a bit hot for that at the moment. Unless he will eat chilled soup.

|How old is he? The bento egg moulds press the yolk of boiled eggs in to the white so they don't fall apart, great if your ds is 5, not if he is 15.

Tinned meat and fish, things like tuna and mackerel.

Canape type things, maybe made into a mini kebab so maybe a bit of cheese, a cherry tomato and a spring onion on a bento stick.

Rolled omelettes cut into cubes.

I also agree with cutting a sandwich into pieces.

What does he eat for Dinner OP? Any leftovers are a great shout, that way you know he will eat it. Otherwise, quiche, a deconstructed sandwich, if he's not a great eater in school something dense and easy to do, say a pork pie or similar. If he's a good little eater, then leftover pasta bake, cold pasta salad can have many many toppings to keep it interesting, cold new potato salads etc.

I would try not to stress too much over masses of variety for school lunch, speak to him, ask what he'd like, even if you just have 2/3 stock rotations, it's enough and you can challenge him as and when appropriate on the night. I was a really funny eater growing up, texture related too. I think I survived off a white bread plasticky wafer thin ham sandwich for 10 years haha, I got all my veggies and variety at dinner time though

Thanks everyone, some great ideas.
He is 12. He is not a picky eater as long as he doesn’t have to touch the food with his hands. He gets a variety of fruit and veg at home so I’m not overly worried that the packed lunch has to be super healthy, just more a variety so he doesn’t get bored.

Sandwiches cut up very small so they can be picked up with a fork.
Potato salad.
Rice salad.
Pasta salad.
Cous cous.
Those fridge raider type-snacks are small enough to be cut up and eaten with cutlery too.
What about things like meatballs, kebabs etc? they can be cut up and eaten with cutlery too.
Soup can be kept warm in a thermos.

Quiche?
Could he deal with eating say a wrap, wrapped in foil?
Any leftovers in a thermos?
Kebabs on skewers?
Frittata?
Pie?

Would he go for a kebab of different things on a bamboo skewer. Pieces of cheese, cherry tomatoes, peppers, rolled strips of ham.

The thermos king food flask has been well used here, and the spoon clips into the lid so even a year on DS has not managed to loose it (I'm tempting fate now aren't I) He takes soup, veggie chill, bean stew, pasta and sauce (helps to undercooked the pasta a bit otherwise it's quite soft after being kept warm).

Will he eat sandwiches? Sorry if I'm being dumb, but what about sandwich bites that can be eaten with a fork? So cut a sandwich into 9, or a roll into 9 bites that can be eaten with a fork.... keep it normal (ish) but work out ways of skewering stuff....

Sandwich bites are a great idea! I can’t believe I didn’t think of that!
Some fab suggestions, will try the kebabs and quiche too

@hippohector

Sandwich bites are a great idea! I can’t believe I didn’t think of that! Some fab suggestions, will try the kebabs and quiche too

glad to be of help....

I have a fussy eater and try to do him as normal stuff as possible while working around his pickiness...pretty much anything can be eaten with a fork if it's portioned right!!

I make a really simple salad with tin of tuna, a tin of mixed beans and a tin of sweetcorn. I dress with olive oil and lemon juice and lots of fresh parsley, but he could chose something different. I call it tinned salad! Very useful if you've run out of fresh supplies. In summer I might add cherry tomatoes or chopped cucumber.